GUK+

During the past few years Camilla Berner (b.1972) has explored the theme of the cultural view of nature in her work. Combining this with the unique characteristics of GUK+ she has created an installation that will approach this topic from four new perspectives for each of the exhibition spaces. As she has done in several previous projects, Berner's new work for GUK+ will focus on weeds, in this case the dandelion.

The title is inspired by a methodical and analytical approach to a subject as an artistic work in process, as well as a method of relating to reality.

The German exhibition is a kitchen. Here, visitors can taste dandelion juice and help themselves to recipes featuring this everyday weed, so that they can try to cook with it for themselves at home. The recipes can also be downloaded from GUK+'s web site.

In the Danish location, an outhouse in the rural town of Lejre, visitors can enjoy the fragrance of dandelions as the floor is covered with pots full of them. At the end of the room standing on the floor and leaning against the wall there is a photograph of a woman transported by the pleasure of the dandelion's smell.

In the Iceland garden location visitors can delve deep into the dandelion as they grow via magnifying glasses installed in small objects placed above in the garden. The dandelions are thus enlarged and so play a more prominent role than usual in the garden - contrary to the conventional wishes of most gardeners.

For the fourth location, a laptop computer, Berner has created a piece of animation where you can hear and see a Dandelion grow.

All four facets of the exhibition can be seen at http://www.simnet.is/guk

The use of plants and nature in Berner's artwork is a way to investigate which mechanism it is that regulates order and disorder in the interface between man and nature in man-made environments. Which ideals relate to nature - what is 'the good nature' and what is 'the unwanted nature'?

To most people weeds are a nuisance and simply something to be got rid of - particularly the Dandelion, which for many gardeners is a persistent nuisance. But Berner turns this notion on its head. By questioning the idea of weeds as a nuisance and instead positing that they are, in fact, the most 'truly natural' of plants, she challenges the conventional discourse on nature. In doing this she suggests that, at the end of the day, nature is in fact a cultural construct.

But if this is the case, what longings and dreams prevent the weed from being let alone - what do we want the nature to fulfil.

Is the weed growing in the cracks of a pavement merely a sign of the pavement's disrepair - can it not also be seen as a trace of a tiny garden? Shouldn't we recognise that the dandelion is, quite possibly, the most ideal plant that exists; resilient and resistant to almost everything; useful in food; with a potent mythological resonance; and, simply, really rather beautiful - both when in flower and when in seed?

Exhibition in GUK+ - introduction

Six delicious recipies with dandelions

Taraxacum vulgare Symphonie
ANIMATION for Lap top